Malawi School Project

A Brighter Future through Education

ASC’s first project was to build
the Thitimira secondary school in the very poor Mzimba region of Malawi.Dr Newton Matupi who knows the area well is the lead Trustee working with the
community school committee.

The Vision

We learned that several villages had come together to fulfil their dream of building a secondary school which would provide their children with the knowledge and skills they needed to break out of poverty and build a better more sustainable future.

Despite huge financial sacrifices to themselves village heads, church leaders
and parents raised funds to start building
the school but funds quickly ran out
and work came to a standstill.

Building work

With a huge effort both from Newton overseeing the build with local tradesman, the following has been completed:

Four Classrooms
Eight teachers Houses
Girls Hostel
Latrines with showers for girls and boys
Solar panels to provide electricity
Bore hole and hand pump for water

Vegetable Garden

With the help of ASC the deputy head and students are planning a garden which will help provide fruit and vegetables to supplement their school meal and help provide a balanced diet.

Clean Water

Clean water was the first priority for the school
Prior to this, villagers had to walk 2 km to fetch clean water
Much to the delight of the whole community and with the support of a global engineering company, who offered their services pro bono, a bore hole with a hand pump has now been installed
Cost £10,000

The School is open!

The school opened on 4th January 2022

Newton Matupi and Sue Bacon who are leading the project flew out to help co-ordinate finishing work on Phase 1 of the school and represented ASC at the opening ceremony. They described the atmosphere as absolutely amazing and filled with so much joy and happiness.

There was a huge turnout of the community and celebrations went on all day with dancing and singing in colourful traditional costumes, poetry recitals and many inspiring speeches. There were speeches from village heads, members of the school committee, heads of feeder schools and of course from the new headmaster Mr Adams

Chirwa and his deputy – all incredibly grateful for the very generous financial support from donors and for the very hard work of the ASC Team that has enabled this all to happen.

The School Year 2024

The 2024 year one intake has an extra 38 children
We are fundraising for 38 extra desks, books and porridge
There are now four classes of equal numbers of boys and girls

Community Engagement

We work closely with the School Board and the local community. We hold regular engagement exercises with pupils, parents and community members to gather their views on how they envisage the school to develop. These events are a great success and we plan to run additional community engagement events on aspects such as creating a permaculture garden and conserving surrounding forests in due course.

Girls Hostel

The headmaster successfully applied for funding for materials to build the girl’s hostel. This is necessary because many of the girls live over 10 miles away from the school and so having a hostel means they are more likely to attend regularly and complete their education. ASC is funding the cost of builders.

Tree Planting

Tree Nurseries and tree planting were established in 2023

So far. 12 villages are taking part in the scheme, and they are all enthusiastic about the reforestation programme.
A sustainable permaculture garden using human and animal waste is planned for the future.

Women’s Enterprise

These wonderful women have joined forces to create a small business, producing fertiliser from manure. ASC funded the training for the women’s enterprise group targeting the poorest of families. Their enterprise aims to raise funds to help cover the cost of their children’s education.

Fundraising success

2024 has been a successful fundraising year. We have attracted funding from a corporate company, a foundation specialising in education in Africa and a company sponsoring the girls hostel. Two concerts and a midsummer party entertained many people and raised much needed funds.

Our Partnership with Thitimira School 2025 Update

Our journey to Thitimira school was a 3 hour journey from the nearest town on a very bumpy dirt track road. When we arrived at the school the welcome was overwhelming – local women were singing and dancing and everyone was there to welcome us – the students, head teacher and staff – all the local headmen and chiefs – the women’s group – parents and families and other villagers. The school itself looked beautiful in the sunshine – now well established- with two school blocks surrounded by teachers houses, the girls boarding house and toilet/shower block.

There are other small buildings going up around the school as villagers move closer to the school and even stalls selling basic supplies. One man asked if we could help build a clinic as the nearest one is many miles away.
We started with a meeting with the village headmen, chiefs and the chief of chiefs.
They were all so deeply grateful to the donors, ASC and everyone involved in helping to raise funds and give their support. As Iain said they felt like old souls and talked from the heart which was very moving!

It was a day of celebration – dancing singing and some breath taking poetry from the students that they had written and recited by heart mostly about what their education meant to them. There were plays. One was acted by a group of ladies that highlighted the issues of families wanting to marry their daughters off at an early age (as one less mouth to feed) and the daughters wanting to attend school and not get pregnant at 14. It was utterly hilarious and the students fell about laughing but it is a very serious issue for them.
There were lots of speeches – all so full of gratitude but also highlighting many struggles the community faced eg not enough food especially after a drought and poor harvest.
We spoke to students in small groups. Many had lost a parent or both. Hunger was a common theme and apparently due to a poor harvest after a drought, the porridge program has not been operating.

The new teachers are so dynamic and dedicated and were brilliant with the students. A couple of them renting far from the school with their families as there is not enough teachers houses. That was definitely top of their wish list!
The community is very strong here and they are currently working together to clear a football pitch and help in any way they can. There is a group of women who have been volunteering by providing pastoral care to the girls and checking up on them if they are away from school for more than 2 days.
It really was an incredible day
We learned so much and felt very inspired to do everything we can to support the vision that this community has.

Fundraising

Inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the community ASC has worked hard to raise funds for the project which will eventually allow 200 children both girls and boys to be educated.